


Aion: The Reimagining

by Sammisel



Category: Aion (Video Game)
Genre: Fantastic Racism, Gen, Lots of OC's, Time Travel, i love aion but i hate ncsoft, the game used to be good but now it stinks so im going back in time
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-28
Updated: 2019-01-28
Packaged: 2019-10-18 04:06:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,613
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17573570
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sammisel/pseuds/Sammisel
Summary: Ylva, an Asmodian archdaeva, recieves an urgent letter from an old friend stationed in the Hoarfrost Shelter. The artifact that sends people to Dark Poeta is malfunctioning and is taking people somewhere else against their will. Through a mishap, she gets sent through it as well, and on the other side of the artifact is the glorious past of Atreia! Will she be able to tell the residents of their terrible future? Will they even believe her?Will she get her revenge?





	Aion: The Reimagining

Ateria. The planet torn in two by the menacing power of the Balaur, the draconic overlords of humanity. It is held together only by the remnants of the Tower of Eternity, but its aether, Aion’s lifeblood, is pooling away by the day. The lower half is populated by the sunblighted and haughty Elyos, where they take the blessings and luck given to them by Aion for granted. They live their lazy lives in Elysea without strife, everything given to them without having to work for any of it. The upper half of Atreia is inhabited by the righteous and tenacious Asmodians, their ferocity unmatched by all. They were born in the harsh eternal winters of Asmodae, seemingly abandoned by Aion, where they have learned to appreciate their life and to work hard to achieve. It is in Asmodae where the sprawling city of Pandemonium lies, where daevas, humans blessed personally by Aion to ascend into immortality, tend to their day to day life. It is in Pandemonium that a certain daeva resides, drinking away their sorrows and regrets in the Apellbine Tavern.

She rested her head on the counter of the bar, holding the glass of Pressa wine close to her face. It was half empty. She couldn’t bring herself to take another sip, however, so she simply closed her eyes. Ah, the bliss of sleeping through a drunken stupor, it is unmatched.

“Ylva, I know that you are a loyal patron, but we can’t have you sleeping on the counter,” said the bartender, nudging her slightly. She mumbled incoherently about nothing. The bartender sighed.

“Is something the matter?” he asked, trying to keep her awake.

“No, nothing,” Ylva murmured. “just… reminiscing.”

“Aren’t we all?” he responded nonchalantly. “Well, I won’t bother you about it, but I can’t have you sleeping here.”

“Don’t stress, I’ll just pay my tab and go,” she slurred, struggling to stand up. She gently tossed some kinah to the bartender and stumbled out the door. He waved her goodbye.

 

Outside the tavern, she sat slumped against a wall, holding her head in her claws. What a failure she was, she thought. Letting the bastard responsible for the destruction of Katalam, Danaria, and the rest of those lands just get away only missing an arm. She was so close to avenging all those dead, and yet… Ylva sighed dramatically, but a hiccup interrupted it halfway. What was the point of being a daeva if she couldn’t protect those that needed her?

The frigid air made her shiver. Snow began to fall gently around her, dusting her cloth armor. On contact with her it melted, causing the damp clothing and matted hair to stick to her body. That just made it even colder. 

She should really get home.

 

“Ah, excuse me, nyerk,” came a voice, disturbing her from her rest. She didn’t even realize that she fell asleep. “Daeva is Ylvakirsi, yes? There is a letter for you, nyerk.”

Ylva’s eyes fluttered open and saw that in front of her was a delivery shugo. It nervously twiddled its paws together, its deep amber eyes looking everywhere but her face. Someone sent her a package. Most likely just an advertisement from one of the vendors. Stupid shugos should know to trash junk mail.

“I am Ylvakirsi, let me see the letter,” she grumbled, snatching the envelope from the rodent’s paws. It was not, to her surprise, a junk mail. The hangover that assaulted her ability to think made her read it especially slowly, to the shugo’s immense displeasure. 

“Does the daeva want shugo to read it for her, nyerk?” it asked impatiently. “Shugo has strict schedule!”

“Just give me a minute, thanks,”

 

The letter read as such: ‘Dear Ylvakirsi, 

There is a most urgent predicament in the Hoarfrost Shelter. No, it does not have anything to do with the Red Mane tribe. There is something wrong with the artifact and several of us are gone. Please come here as fast as possible, there is no one else I can turn to.

Sincerely,

Svafnir’

 

Attached to the letter was a small parcel containing a badge from the Archon Centurion posted at the camp. Immediately, she knew the severity of the situation. No Archon would be willing to give up something of such value to them unless they were incapacitated. She stood up suddenly, the hangover ebbing away. 

“Will that be all, daeva?” asked the shugo. It was their business policy, the Zephyr shugo at least, to wait for direct customer feedback. It was not very effective, and from it was born the saying, ‘don’t kill the messenger.’

“Yes, thank you,” she said, waving it away. It bowed shortly and sprinted the other way. As greedy as those rodents are, at least they were good at what they did. And what they did was find ways to swindle humans and daeva alike out of their kinah, of course. They even tried it with the Balaur, but those scaly sons of Kralls wouldn’t deal with them. Strange how they deal with the Shulacks, though. She shook her head - she was letting her mind wander too much.

She began her trek to the Vifrost Bridge to talk to the teleporter. No way was she flying to Beluslan in this state. Luckily for her, as a daeva, alcohol was filtered out of her system much quicker than it would be for a human, so she was perfectly sober as soon as she started walking. Daevas who recognized her waved as she walked past. She waved back.

“Where would you like to go?” asked the teleporter.

“To Beluslan, please,” Ylva answered. She paid him appropriately and he opened the gate through space. She jumped through.

 

Beluslan. The coldest place in Atreia bar none. Even the ice fields of Morheim were nothing compared to the vicious biting gales of this frozen wasteland. Though, as Asmodians, they found a certain beauty in the howling winds and the pristine snowscapes. The hardship that was growing food in these lands, however, was not charming at all. 

The immediate burst of cold startled Ylva as she exited the gate from Pandemonium. Shivering slightly, she asked the flight transporter to send her to the Hoarfrost Shelter. The aether took the shape of a glaciated bird that picked her from the ground and flew at incredible speeds away from the fortress. Luckily, the aether protected her from the wind resistance and the high altitude temperatures, so she was relatively comfortable. Ylva, despite being Asmodian, preferred warmth. Not that she was anything like a filthy Elyos, of course.

As soon as she landed, she noticed that the camp seemed to be in disarray. The Mau that were normally standing guard were absent from their posts and their huts were completely disheveled. There were scorch marks surrounding the artifact that sat to the left of the camp. All the humans seemed to be missing as well as the Mau chieftain. Suddenly, a blue head peeked from behind a chunk of rubble. 

“Svafnir!” Ylva called, instantly recognizing the man.

“Ylva! You actually came!” he cried, jogging over to her. He seemed to be untouched by whatever happened to the camp.

“Yes, I received your letter. It sounded rather urgent. What’s the problem? Does it have anything to do with why the Shelter is destroyed?”

“Ah, er, yes, it does. I’ll explain the details to you, but we need to get away from the artifact first.”

“Of course.”

 

“So, tell me, what happened here?” Ylva inquired, sitting atop a boulder. She shivered. By Aion, this cold is the worst!

“F-first of all, c-could you summon your fire spirit?” he asked, shaking like a leaf. “I-I usually have a c-c-campfire or s-some cold resistant clothes, b-but the explosion sort of…”

“Uh, sure, I’m cold too,” she agreed. She concentrated on the orb she wielded, drawing out the mana from her being. It began to glow a fiery orange as ley lines drew themselves around her across the ground. 

“Ove, come to my side! I summon you!” called Ylva, levitating the orb far above her head. Fire plumes erupted from the ground close by her, and from the crater crawled a humanoid being made purely of molten rock. Its heat quickly enveloped the two Asmodians, creating a more comfortable atmosphere. 

“Thanks, Ove,” she said to the fire spirit. It nodded wordlessly. “Anyways, could you tell me what happened to the shelter?”

“Right, I’ll get right on that,” he said. He waved to the fire spirit in gratitude, to which it nodded back. “Would you rather the long story or the short story?”

“Just give me the details, please.”

“Right! Yes. Okay, I’ll try not to waste your time too much.

So, as you know, my team and I have been studying this artifact ever since it came here from the Abyss. Every daeva that touched it, including you, was sent to that grim future… so we had to have only human researchers. Not good for survivability. Ah, wait a second, that’s not important… 

Anyways, ever since chunks of the Abyss started falling into Atreia, the artifact has been going haywire! It emits enormous clouds of aether seemingly randomly and explodes at other times. Very dangerous. I’ve surmised that all the aether that has been siphoned into the Abyss has been bursting back into Atreia, and that’s imbuing the artifact with incredible amounts of… wait, that’s not important either. Uh, I’ll… I’ll get to the point!

So, a huge chunk from the Abyss recently fell pretty close by over at where those Lepharists are. The artifact exploded like it usually did, but this time, everyone standing nearby just vanished!”

 

Ylva, who had been almost on the verge of tuning him out, snapped to attention.

“Wait, vanished? Not died?” she asked.

“Yes! It was alike what happens when a daeva goes to that future Poeta,” he answered. “But it wasn’t really as flashy. They just… disappeared!”

“Huh… Well, why are you still here if both the humans and Mau vanished?”

“Ah, well, I was helping Agita and Molota with gathering some Grobule at the time. I saw it from a distance.”

“Hrm. So, how many are gone in total?”

“Five humans and four Mau. Chief Hasvaditan and a couple guards were busy dealing with another problem at the time, so they are fine.”

Ylva pondered to herself. Ove, the fire spirit, sat on the icy ground, melting it almost instantaneously. Uncomfortable, it shot up and continued to levitate. Svafnir nervously rubbed his claws against each other, awaiting Ylva’s answer.

“What… am I supposed to do about this?” she said, stumped.

“Uh…” was all he could get out.

“Well, first of all, you did contact General Nerita or General Thor about this, right?”

“Ah! I did, but they had no one left to spare. Said that the Abyss chunks falling from the sky were much more pressing an issue.”

“So, what do you expect me to do? High daevas are in rather short supply, Svafnir.”

“Uh… Yes, that is true… Oh, I know! I hear that Spirit Masters are telepathically linked to their summons. You could make your spirit touch the artifact instead of you and see what happens.”

“Suppose I could. Alright, let’s head on back to the Shelter.”

 

From a short distance, far enough away from the blast radius, Ylva inspected the artifact to the best of her ability. It seemed to be in a state of disrepair and was passively glowing. Though she wasn’t exactly the best in the world at sensing aether, even she could feel the overwhelming amounts radiating from the crystal. 

“How can you stand even this close to it, Svafnir?” she muttered. “It feels almost suffocating…”

“You know I’m human, right?” he asked pointedly. She ignored the comment.

“Alright, Ove, go and touch the artifact,” she ordered. The fire spirit nodded dutifully and strode towards the crystal. It was losing health rapidly and struggled to get close. Only a meter away, it could go no closer without falling apart, so instead it stretched forward its sword of flame. The sword barely brushed by the artifact when the spirit vanished completely. 

“I… Svafnir, my connection with the spirit broke,” she explained after a pause. “meaning Ove has been destroyed. I don’t think anyone who went in survived. I’m sorry for your loss.”

“I was… afraid of that,” he murmured, his form sagging. He faked a cheery voice. “I-I suppose that there would be death in this field. Life for us mortals is never safe, after all!” 

Ylva placed a hand onto his shoulder in comfort. Slowly, Svafnir plucked a quill from his belt and clutched it closely to his chest. They shared a lengthy moment of silence.

 

“Svafnir, I am needed elsewhere,” said Ylva as gently as she could. “I hate to leave you while you are mourning, but I must. I will try to contact Commander Vidar to see if he can spare a squad or two. For now, you and the Mau here should relocate to the Red Mane Cavern.”

Nearby, a female Mau shaman pricked her ears. Stomping furiously towards Ylva, Molota jabbed a claw threateningly towards the daeva.

“You filthy minion of Pandemonium!” she growled. “You darrre demand us to rrrejoin with that trrraitorrrous clan? May yourrr eyes be pecked frrrom their sockets!” She bared her fangs and hissed menacingly.

“I’m sorry, but your options are running out,” stated Ylva brusquely. “You face untold danger if you remain here. The next time a piece of the Abyss falls, it may fall here. Or, the next time the artifact explodes, you could be in range. Please think of this rationally.”

“I do not carrre!” Molota shouted. “We of the Hoarrrfrrrost have faced enough adverrrsity! To die by ourrr own choice would be a fate morrre suiting of ourrr trrradition than to die frrrom the claws of ourrr grrreatest enemy!” 

“Molota, please calm down,” Svafnir tried. But it was to no avail as the Mau began to back away, closer to the artifact.

“Molota! Get away from the artifact!” cried Ylva.

“To die now in honorrr is my choice!” She struggled to get closer to the artifact, the aetheric field surrounding it resisting her advances.

“Molota! You face naught but dishonorrr thrrrough suicide!” roared a voice from the distance. It was Hasvaditan, the final Chieftain of the Hoarfrost Tribe. 

“Chieftain! They seek to rrrejoin us with the Rrred Mane!”

“Then we shall die in the midst of battle with them. Do not become complacent in the face of horrorrr!”

“Chieftain-“

Molota was too close. Her eyes widened in sudden terror as she felt herself being dragged towards the artifact now instead of away. Svafnir, not wanting to lose yet another close friend, dashed in. He struggled valiantly against the thick cloud of aether and managed to clasp her paw. Unfortunately, no matter how hard he pulled, she only got closer to the artifact. It felt as if they were going to be ripped into pieces.

Ylva, initially stunned by shock, quickly summoned her earth spirit.

“Halvar, quick! Save them!” she shouted. The earth spirit blinked in acquiescence and charged towards the struggling pair. Unfortunately, as a being made of aether, the earth spirit was especially susceptible to the effects of the pulling. It was obliterated. 

Out of options, she unfurled her vast feathery wings. Channeling her mana into movement, she thrust herself forth, flapping her wings. She pushed the pair aside. They landed soundly into the snow outside the camp. Ylva was not so lucky.

One of her feathers managed to clip the crystal, and she was gone. She vanished, like the rest of them.

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! I've always loved Aion ever since I started playing it in 2012. 3.0 was definitely the glory days. Unfortunately, this game has become harder and harder and HARDER to love over the years. NCsoft REALLY screwed the pooch on this one. The candies that you are forced to take, since they took away running speed? The whole reworking of all the classes (and made them worse)? REMOVING ALTGARD AND MORHIEM?? Removing literally all the lands that I liked, i.e. Katalam, Danaria, Sarpan, etc... Reworking everything so literally everything is soloable? Cash shop, cash shop, cash shop! Buy your enchants here! Buy your 100% manastone slots! 
> 
> 4.8 shot the legs of the game but 6.0 shot the head. And did you hear about that ridiculous crap that's going to be 7.0? Laughable. Where's my real Argent Manor? Where's my Elementis Forest? Where's Draupnir Cave? Where's the Eye of Tiamaranta? Where's Atreian Atlas?!?! Oh and guess what. Aion 2, confirmed mobile! LOL!! NCsoft should go out of business =)
> 
> (Also yes I am still mad that they took away Asmodian claws and manes. Now we just look like blue skinned elyos, FFS. Who tf wants to be an empty-headed vapid prettyboy elyo? There's a reason that there's TWO factions, not one!!)


End file.
